For His Own Safety
by Pulsar
Summary: Dark AU, Claude PoV, spoilers for events at the end of the first disc and middle of second disc. When somebody makes an error in judgement, even if they only meant well, everyone suffers the consequences.


Another result of getting just a tad too frustrated with writer's block on another fanfic – that, and I've had this concept for some time but never bothered to just sit down and write it out before. Best way to cure writer's block: back off and write something else… At least, it works for me…

Anyway, the following warnings apply to this story: First off, you have to have played the game through to at least halfway through the second disc: otherwise, you won't fully understand the ending. This is a Claude Point of View fanfic, and let me tell you right now, he's… a bit out of sorts. Also, this is a slight AU in that a certain event near the end of the first disc played out in a very different way. Hopefully, you'll be able to figure out what from the story. I'm pretty certain this qualifies as "Dark": at least, that's how it came off sounding to me.

Oh, and I don't own the rights to Star Ocean; just a copy of the game and a memory card filled with various game saves. Nothing for you to sue me over.

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I wonder how long it's been since the world ended.

I kinda lost track of time after the… incident… so I honestly have no clue just how many days have gone by since I was taken from my friends and allies and forced to watch as their world went up in flames.

Well… I suppose it didn't go up in flames so much as it disintegrated.

Not that it matters. Either way, the results are the same.

Expel is gone.

Rena is dead. Celine is dead. Ashton is dead. Precis is dead. Dias is dead.

And Claude… Well, I'm right here.

What's left of me, anyway.

I'm the only survivor.

I would have died right alongside the others if it weren't for my father. If it weren't for him picking up the signal from my communicator and locking onto it, I would have been smashed to bits with the rest of Expel.

Damn him anyway.

If he hadn't interfered – hadn't ripped me away from the others like he did – we could have changed things. We could have saved Expel, I just know it.

And even if there'd been nothing we could do, at least we would have gone down fighting.

But noooo, he had to show up and "save his precious son" – whether he wanted to be 'saved' or not.

I admit, in the very beginning, I wanted nothing more than to leave Expel. If he had shown up on the first night after I ended up there – maybe even in the first week or so – I would have gladly returned to the ship of my own free will after bidding goodbye to Rena and apologizing for not being her "Warrior of Light".

Instead, he waited until I'd met so many friends and gotten to the point where I wanted nothing more than to solve the mystery of the Sorcery Globe, save Expel, and then maybe think about finding a way back.

Then he came swooping in, forcibly teleports me on the Calnus without warning, then stands there and smiles at me while saying, "Oh, so good to see you again, son! Looks like you didn't get killed after all! Now let's go back to the main deck and forget all about that unexplored planet!"

I couldn't forget. My friends were still back on Expel, in the enemy's stronghold, probably wondering what the hell had happened to me. They were counting on me, I had to get back to them!

But Father wouldn't hear of it. He acted shocked that I'd "made contact with the natives" – like I had any real choice, seeing as how I was there for months – and refused to let me return. All my protests, my begging and pleading, fell on deaf ears.

I suppose it shouldn't have come as any real surprise to me. Father rarely pays attention to what I really want anymore: why should I have expected any different from him then?

Then, just as I was thinking that things couldn't get any worse, fate had to go and prove me wrong yet again.

As I trudged onto the bridge, the sensors started going wild. That was when I discovered that Father and his crew had been monitoring a high-energy body nearby – and that Expel was heading on a crash course towards it.

It had to be the work of the Sorcery Globe, I just know it! If only I could get back to Rena and the others, we could locate the cause and put a stop to it, saving Expel!

Of course, Father wouldn't hear of it. He insisted that it was far too risky for me to return – completely ignoring the fact that if I _didn't_ head back, a hell of a lot more would be lost.

He didn't care that an entire world was about to die… All that mattered was that I wouldn't be among them.

He gave up the possibility that all those lives would be saved for the sole purpose of prolonging my own.

Finally, I asked him if I could at least go back and say goodbye to my friends… seeing as how I would never see them again. I reminded him of his own battle comrades, hoping to play on his emotions to get my ticket back home.

He fell silent, and just looked at me for a long moment. I returned his steady gaze, praying he would give in, imploring him to listen to me just this one time and let me return, let me do what was right…

He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, then reopened them and stared me straight in the eye.

And he said "No."

He told me it would be too painful to see them again. He told me I should accept that saving Expel was a lost cause and move on.

He told me I would understand someday that this was for my own good, my own safety.

Then he turned away, effectively ending the discussion as the rest of my pleas once again fell upon his deaf ears.

He let Expel be destroyed for my own safety.

I was forced to watch from afar as the world I had come to love was sucked into the high-energy body and turned into dust for my own good.

That was some time ago – like I said, I don't know exactly how long.

I don't care, either.

I don't care about how many hours I've spent staring at the spot where I last glimpsed Expel.

I don't care about the looks of pity and concern I get from the rest of the crew as I wander the halls of this ship aimlessly – or about the muted whispers left in my wake once they think I've trudged far enough away.

All that matters… everything that mattered… is gone.

My allies – my friends – are all dead, along with the world they lived on and loved, and if it weren't for my father, I'd have died right alongside them.

Well, died or managed to find a way to actually save Expel from extinction… Like it matters now. According to him, my life was infinitely more important than the possibility of saving so many other countless lives…

Thanks a lot, Father.

…Thanks a whole…?!?

…Okay, why the hell did the ship just shake like that? Are we starting to move again? We haven't gone anywhere since Expel… Guess Father's decided it's best not to hang around here any longer.

He did stay here longer than I thought he might… Probably thinking to try and patch things up with me by giving me a chance to mourn before moving on… As if anything could make up for what he did…

But wait… Calnus's never started up that roughly before… What's going on…?

Better check out the bridge, see what Father's up to…

…Everyone looks so nervous, and for once, I'm not getting the impression that it's because I'm around…

…?!? What the…?!?

I just got onto the bridge in time to see what's causing these tremors to shake the ship, not to mention nearly fall flat on my face again. Standing here in the doorway, propping myself up by gripping the frame, I'm staring out at the source right now…

…It's the high-energy body that Expel collided with. But how the hell is it sending out these energy blasts?

………

…Heh…hehehe…

…I don't…believe this…

…Ah ha, ha, ha…

Is that me laughing…? A few of the techs that aren't scrambling to try and strengthen our defenses are giving me strange looks… Oh, like it matters…

Nothing matters now… Not even what Father did…

Can't they see how funny it is…?

Father traded a world away to try and save me… and now everyone's gonna die thanks to that energy body…

Just like Rena, Precis and all the others…

…Why are you looking at me like that, Father? Why aren't you laughing at this too? Don't you think it's funny…?

…It's ironic, don't you think, Father…?

…Father…?

God, it's so bright………


End file.
